Fic: Pockets in Time Part 5
Author: helloprilly
Characters: Ten/Donna
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 4029
Part 4
“Left its seeds while I was sleeping…”
Donna remained crouched among the gently waving red grass, her fingers flexing involuntarily into the strangely firm ground beneath her. She knew that Gallifrey had been destroyed by the Doctor at the end of the Time War and there was no way that she could have actually travelled to the planet, but that didn’t explain the vision around her.
She’d remembered how Gallifrey had looked in the Doctor’s memories and this matched those memories perfectly, but it was the scents and sounds that were intoxicating on a completely different level. She could feel a strange hum through the ground, similar to the hum that she had always felt aboard the Tardis and it was that hum that finally convinced her that she was still somehow in the Tardis.
“This has to be a dream.” Donna’s hand rose to her temple as a pain suddenly lanced through her temple, she felt the world shift and tilt sideways before slowly righting itself. She was definitely in rough shape and the strange sensations floating through the air around her were not helping restore her shattered equilibrium.
Maybe that wave had knocked her unconscious and she was even now lying in the corridor while the world disintegrated around the both of them. With a panicked cry, she jumped to her feet and looked around for the Doctor.
She didn’t see him anywhere, but in the distance, she saw two little boys laughing as they chased each other through the red grass.
She raised her hand to shade her eyes, squinting as she tried to discern who the little boys were and if there were any other people with them. She gasped when she recognized one of the little boys as he chased after his friend, her hand dropping to her mouth as she tried to stifle her shocked cry. The children drew closer to Donna and didn’t notice her standing there until they were nearly on top of her.
Donna fought the tears that suddenly threatened when she looked down into the smaller child’s gaze; his eyes were haunted, almost as if he had just seen the end of everything that he’d ever cared about but was still trying to forget that it had ever happened. She smiled tremulously down at both of them, though it was the shrewd gaze of the second child that sent chills down her spine.
“Who are you? You’re not supposed to be here.”
Donna grimaced when he addressed her, the imperious tone all too similar to the voice that still sometimes haunted her dreams. “Is that so? You’re also not supposed to be out this far either, are you? Wouldn’t your parents be angry at you for wandering so far?”
She could tell that her words had struck a barb with the second child, but before he could retort his companion spoke up. “It’s alright, Koschei. I feel like I know her.”
“But Theta, she’s a human! You know humans aren’t supposed to be on Gallifrey!”
Theta gazed at Donna with a strange look in his eyes, his head cocked as his gaze perused the air around her body. “I don’t know if she is completely human, Kosch.” His words were thoughtful as he let his senses sink into the timelines that flared so brightly around the woman in front of him. “Her timelines are too bright, but there’s something else there.”
Donna felt herself trapped in the younger Doctor’s eyes, his gaze seemed to reach directly into her soul and for a split-second tug on the part that was bound to him. Theta gasped when he saw the answer swirl through her timeline but a quick glance at his friend showed only a bored interest that in no way belied the nature of the woman that stood in front of them. Theta found himself mesmerized by her timeline, he felt as if his own future were wrapped up in those gossamer strands and that he couldn’t begin to imagine the heights to which they would travel.
“How did you get here? The elders will be very angry if they were to find you,” Theta asked as he forced his eyes to meet her gaze.
Donna smiled softly as she looked at the world around her; the gentle whispering of the breeze through the red grass was a soothing balm to her tortured senses. “I don’t quite know how I got here, Theta. One moment, I was travelling in a ship and then the next moment I was here.”
Donna didn’t go into detail about the ship that she had been travelling on or who she had been travelling with simply because she was uncertain as to what had happened. She still wasn’t sure if this was all a dream or if somehow, she had travelled to a point in the past where she could meet this younger version of the Doctor and the Master.
She watched as Koschei quickly lost interest in the conversation, his scowl of disapproval was shocking on his near perfect face as he turned away and started savagely attacking the red grass with a branch that he had been carrying.
Theta watched his friend stomp away with a look of sadness, his hand fiddling with his pant leg before he turned to look back up at Donna. “You’re going to be very important to me one day, aren’t you?”
Donna bit her lip hard to keep from blurting out too much, just in case she was at a point in the Doctor’s life when she could change things. Her vision swam as she looked down into his ageless eyes, the same eyes that even now nearly a millennium later could still see into the depths of her soul. She saw stars being born and dying in that eternal gaze but she also saw the haunting knowledge of his own people’s destruction. He had understood enough of what he had seen to know that his people’s downfall would one day come and that he would have a hand in that destruction.
She knelt in the grass at his feet, her hands clutched together so that she could try to better hide their trembling. He stood there patiently, his gaze wandering distractedly around her body from time to time as he tried to better read her timelines.
“I am, Theta, but it’s not going to be for a long time to come. There’s so much that you have to do before we meet, but when we do it will be fantastic.”
He smiled at her words, his gaze darting to see just how far Koschei had wandered off before he stepped closer to her. He carried himself with all the power of a Time Lord even though the mantle had only just been placed about his shoulders. The sorrow seemed to fade from his eyes for just a moment before he reached up to brush a hand against her temple.
Donna gasped when she felt his thoughts press against her own barriers, her eyes flashing as she very quickly pulled away from his touch. “I can’t allow you to look into my mind, Theta. You know that I can’t let you see any more of what might be coming, although I think you have a pretty good idea already.”
Theta’s hand hovered near to her temple for a moment more as he read the intention in her eyes, his mind trying to read the lines of fate that were swirling chaotically around her body. He let his hand fall back to his side instead of forcing his way into her mind; his long fingers twitching for a moment before he nodded in response to her words. “I saw it in the untempered schism.” He swallowed thickly before he looked up to see that Koschei had thrown himself to the ground and was laying in the grass staring up at the double suns as they hung low in the sky.
“I didn’t tell Koschei what I saw, at least not all of it. He seemed different after the schism though, I don’t quite understand how or why but we were both changed by what we saw in its depths.”
Donna sighed softly when she heard his words, her hand reaching out to grasp his small hand in a reassuring grip. “I can only imagine how hard it must be for you right now, Theta. Everything is changing and you had an experience that very few Time Lords ever had with the untempered schism, but you need to live your life as free from outside influence as possible.”
Theta started when he heard her words, his hand jerking out of Donna’s grasp as he questioned. “How do you know about what happened at the schism? I told no one of what I saw there and I don’t ever intend to let anyone know.”
Donna smiled sadly at the defensive tone in his voice, her hand falling back to her side before she murmured. “You told me, Theta, many years in the future.”
Theta stood there in shocked silence, his mouth working around words before he merely shook his head and sat down hard in the red grass. “I’m so confused right now. I know that my visions were not what Time Lords usually see when they stand before the untempered schism but I don’t know why I was chosen to see such terrible things.”
She could see the terror in his eyes, the burning question as to why he was so different from other Time Lords and why he had been chosen to see the destruction of his own people. He couldn’t tell anyone what he had seen, though he knew that the guardians at least had some idea of the horrors that had been visited upon him.
“I don’t have any answers for you, Theta. But I do know that you will get through it, and that you will be amazing every step of the way. You will make mistakes, but promise me that you won’t give up no matter what happens. Promise me that you’ll always remember what it means to care about others and that you’ll always do your best to be a staunch protector of all those who have nothing.”
The young Doctor looked at Donna with a strange expression on his face, his eyes growing distant as he felt her words echo through his soul like a prophecy. He had already been thinking on the name that he would take at the academy and this strange woman’s words only seemed to reinforce that name. He licked his lips before he nodded in response to her request. “I promise that I’ll always try my best to do what is right by people, but I can’t promise that sometimes I won’t be able to save everyone.”
Donna smiled at his promise, her eyes sparkling when she heard the earnestness in his tone. Whether this was a dream or was in fact a window into the Doctor’s past, Donna hoped that she had at least helped him come to terms with some of the horrors that he had glimpsed in the schism. Her own place in his life was something that she couldn’t delve into with him as that might be enough to alter the future for him and thus ensure that their reality never came to pass, but at least she could help his younger self find some peace.
“No one ever expects you to save everyone, Theta. All we ask is that you do your best, that’s more than enough.”
The world seemed to shimmer for a moment around Theta, strange black waves of energy rippled through the air before the forms in front of her began to grow hazy. She could see the young Doctor’s eyes look at her with far too much knowledge and sorrow, his hand reaching out to grasp hers tightly once more.
“Remember yourself, Donna Noble. Remember everything that you’ve been through and that you’re not alone on your journey any longer either. We’ll meet again, sooner than you think.”
Donna jumped when she heard him speak her name, her eyes widening when she realized she had never spoken it. “How do you know my name?”
Theta looked off into the distance as the air around him continued to shimmer, his eyes falling onto Koschei’s form as his friend has stood up from where he had been laying in the grass. The two friends stood staring at each other for a moment before Koschei and Theta both turned to look at her. “You’re the most important woman throughout eternity. Of course, I would know your name.”
The world tilted violently to the left and sent Donna sprawling in the red grass as Koschei walked towards the two of them. “The most important woman throughout eternity? I seriously find that hard to believe, but don’t worry because one day I’ll find you.”
Donna forced herself to her feet, refusing to lay still beneath Koschei’s calculating gaze. He had always felt superior to any and everyone around him, but she would be damned if she would grovel at his feet. “You’re right, Koschei. One day, you’ll find me but you won’t have me for long because he will make sure that you will finally be finished.”
Donna pointed towards Theta with a triumphant smile, her eyes locking with the younger Doctor’s for a split second before the red grass began to fade away. The last look she had of Koschei and Theta was of the two of them in much older bodies, two blood enemies standing side by side for a single moment forever frozen in time before the golden world faded away once more.
“Donna!”
Donna gasped when she heard the Doctor’s voice calling to her from a great distance, the anguish in his voice was enough to cause tears to spring to her eyes before she turned and began to run blindly towards that voice. “Doctor, I’m here! I’m right here!”
She ran through the darkness while the world seemed to splinter and disintegrate around her, her legs were burning and her head was spinning as waves of energy continued to buffet her body before she slammed headlong into the Doctor’s arms.
“Donna! Oh gods, I was so worried when I couldn’t find you. Are you okay? What happened to you?”
Donna cried out when she felt his arms tighten protectively around her body, her vision was swimming with tears when she noticed the red grass of Gallifrey had vanished to be replaced with the corridors of the Tardis. The Doctor’s mind was painfully open to her and she was overwhelmed by the feelings of fear and concern that were pouring off him, but he had several new bruises across his face and a new large tear in his shirt. “I’m so happy to see you, Doctor. You’re not going to believe what just happened, but I just saw Gallifrey.”
The Doctor pulled back with a start, his eyes widening as he looked behind her before he turned back to her upturned face. His eyes were dark pools of worry and concern as his hand slid up into her hair, fingers sliding into the damp tresses as he tried to gauge the condition of her concussion.
“What do you mean you saw Gallifrey, Donna? Gallifrey is destroyed and her past is forever hidden behind the Time Lock.”
Donna shook her head, instantly regretting the motion as the corridor began to spin in lazy circles around them both. She clung to the Doctor while she waited for the spinning to stop, her eyes clenched tightly closed while she struggled to put into words what had just happened.
“Not only did I see Gallifrey, Doctor but I saw you and the Master as well. What was that wave that hit us? How was it possible for me to see those things if they’re stuck behind the Time Lock?”
The Doctor jerked at her words, his gaze darting to the corridor behind her before he looked back at her with grave concern. “That wave was a temporal energy wave that escaped the core and raced through the ship, but it shouldn’t have created a whole new world for you. It should’ve just trapped you in a bubble of time until the field dissipated.”
The Doctor frowned thoughtfully as he gently disentangled her from his arms and led her to sit down against the wall of the corridor for a few moments while he examined her for any further injuries. “Why don’t you tell me everything that happened, Donna. I need to know what you heard and saw and try not to leave out any details.”
Donna held on to his hand for a moment, her eyes panicked as she pleaded with him for understanding. “I’m not going crazy, Doctor. I know that I saw the both of you, but you were both so very young.”
The Doctor gripped Donna’s hand tightly for a moment more before he reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver. “I don’t think you’re going crazy, Donna, but I think I can figure out what happened if you just tell me everything you experienced. I was trapped in a similar bubble but I didn’t have any visions while in that bubble, I was just floating in a strange, dreamless state that I couldn’t seem to break free from. However, with what you’re telling me, then it makes sense that I couldn’t find you right away when I first managed to fight free from my prison.”
He brushed the hair away from her temple in a motion surprisingly like that of his younger self, his mind touching hers gently as he let himself experience her memories first hand.
Donna leaned back against the wall of the Tardis, her mind drifting back to when the wave had first overtaken her before she began to speak.
The Doctor examined her thoroughly as she spoke, but it was the memories in her mind that gave him the first clue to the puzzle. “You mentioned that you had felt a hum through the air, much like you feel when you’re aboard the Tardis?”
Donna nodded tiredly, her hands falling into her lap as she let her eyes slide closed for a blessed moment of relief from the chaos that surrounded them. “I do, Doctor. I also remember thinking that the ground felt too firm to be simple earth and soil.”
The Doctor nodded thoughtfully as he finished examining her, his hand slipping the sonic back into his pocket before he reached behind him for a water bottle. Where he’d managed to find a water bottle while searching for her and breaking free of his own bubble of time was anyone’s guess, but Donna knew better than to ask the Doctor such a silly question.
He cracked the seal on the bottle and handed it to Donna, before he took a drink from another bottle that he had kept for himself. “The Tardis is tied to all eleven dimensions, but her memories of her adventures and indeed many of my memories and travels are also kept in living circuits throughout the ship. I think that when her consciousness was forcibly severed from her matrix, the resulting void caused her memories to escape into the ship itself.”
He frowned into the distance as his skin continued to crawl with the temporal energy that was raging around them. The touch of the Tardis was growing more distant as she remained separated from her matrix for longer than she ever had been before, and the Doctor was beginning to worry that they wouldn’t be able to reverse the damage in time. He couldn’t move Donna too quickly either though as it was obvious her equilibrium was completely shattered with everything that her body had just endured.
“You’re saying I was inside of a memory?”
The Doctor smiled at Donna’s question though the analogy did fit with what the hypothesis that he was formulating. “Something like that, Donna. Or the memory gave the event focus in a way. The fact that you saw both myself and Koschei at a younger age makes me think that there was something of myself in that memory as well that lent shape to the experience. I have no memory of ever seeing you when I was eight years old, and thus can only conclude that this was an isolated experience that didn’t actually touch on timelines nearly a thousand years old.”
Donna sighed when she heard the Doctor’s words, a part of her thankful that he felt that she hadn’t tampered with his past self as well as the fact that the Master most likely hadn’t known of her existence from that time. It truly seemed to be an isolated incident that was only connected with the damage to the Tardis that seemed to be growing more severe by the minute.
“I’m glad I didn’t do any permanent damage, Doctor.”
The Doctor leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss across her trembling lips. “Are you sure that you’re okay, Donna? The Master really seemed to shake you.”
Donna sighed softly but couldn’t help returning the kiss with a soft groan of frustration. “I’m as okay as I can be at the moment, Doctor. It’s not every day that I come face to face with the man who tortured me for days on end, but now that I know it was really only something like a dream than I will be fine with time. Don’t be upset if I have nightmares in the near future though.”
The Doctor’s lips quirked with a lopsided smile, his hand brushing the hair off her brow before he responded. “I won’t be angry with you, Donna. In fact, I’d be surprised if you didn’t have any effects from what you just experienced.”
She nodded resolutely before pushing away from the wall and rising to unsteady feet, her hand resting against the wall of the Tardis as she blinked her eyes clear. The corridor ahead of them was still littered with spheres in all shapes and sizes, but there seemed to be no other way forward.
The Doctor watched her intently as she swayed on her feet, his hands ready to catch her should she fall but he otherwise didn’t interfere with her movements.
Time was running out for the Tardis and as much as he wanted to delay until Donna was more steady on her feet, he knew that they couldn’t wait much longer.
“Are you feeling up to continuing, Donna?”
She looked back at him with a soft growl of disgust, her eyes were dull with pain but her smile was determined. “I don’t have much of a choice do I, Doctor? Not if we’re going to save the Tardis before it’s too late.”
He could only nod bleakly in response to her words. “I’m sorry, Donna.”
Donna barely spared him a glance as she pushed away from the wall and began to make her way down the corridor. “Stop apologizing, Spaceman. We’ve got too much work to do.”
The Doctor shut his mouth with a softly muffled chuckle, his hand reaching for the sonic once more so that he could scan the corridor in front of them.
Together they began to make their way deeper into the bowels of the ship; while inside the Doctor’s mind, the Tardis began to softly weep.
Part 6